Is it by chance that the name for our faculties of touch, smell, sight, taste and hearing is the same word we use for awareness, meaning, wisdom and intuition? It is through our five senses that we connect with the outside world. And it is our heightened emotional, mental and spiritual awareness that is our sense, or what we make, of the world around us. 

But there is something peculiar about our sense of sight. When we shut our eyes, it’s as if all our other senses become more acute, more aware. This one sense shuts off, and magically, we smell, taste, hear and touch better. When we remove our sight, it no longer overpowers the other four senses. And it leaves room to activate another faculty: that of our Breath. 

Our body is the closest home we have. And when we close our eyes, we move back into ourselves. We go within, where our true home lies. Closing our eyes, our focus goes to our breath. And our breath brings focus to our physical body. When we stop speaking and thinking and actually engage fully in our breath in and our breath out, we reconnect to the deeper wonders there, within ourselves and life. One deep in-breath with EYES WIDE SHUT gives us in-sight (literally) and brings our self together. Suddenly—finally—we feel alive, present, centered and home.

Our daily lives have our body in one place and our mind somewhere else. We’re in a constant state of dispersion, distraction, disconnection. Our body may be taking a shower or eating but our mind will be somewhere else, dwelling on last night’s quarrel or next week’s business presentation.

But our Breath is our Great Connector, working to bring our body and our mind together again. 

I’ve always been (and still am) quite daunted by the idea of sitting down, yogi style in a quiet room, to ONLY and INTENTIONALLY BREATHE. Yes, never been nor am I now, a practicing meditator. And for those of you who aren’t either, it’s quite easy to understand why. We may feel we could be making a better use of our time, and that—practically speaking—there are more urgent things to take care of.

As the daunted novice that I am, however, I know deep down my excuses mean nothing. I know that as soon as I go home to my breath, eyes wide shut, and breathe with awareness, airy-fiery-overachieving me all becomes centered. 

Even if it’s for just 1 MINUTE, we can open the door to a way of “seeing” things clearer. It’s not that all the “sights” of the world are our enemies. It’s that our sight is not passive—it’s aggressive, so to speak, and dominant. And for some of us, it is dominant even over our natural diaphragmatic Breath. It’s that our often keep us in a state of selective oblivion, desensitization, and a weakened mindfulness. 

For those of us who are new to conscious breathing, it’s important to remember to always REVERE THE BREATH, no matter how our breathing performs. If our breath is short, we can take note that it is short, without feeling frustrated or forcing it to go longer. And likewise if it is long, we can simply notice and calmly reflect, “this time you’re long.” We know respect comes first in every relationship, and so does it too with our breath. So with every in-breath, and with every out-breath, much reverence. And on that note, a nod of respect to ourselves for taking notice and taking the time.